De-conditioning the mind

The presence of unimportant knowledge is of no benefit. I call it "junk knowledge".

The pursuit of important knowledge is wisdom.

We've spent our entire existence in this western culture and most other first world cultures engraving the "natural" truths of society (which itself in the western culture is so self-alienating and superficial, not that depth is synonymous with meaning unless either is important to the expansion of one's mind) into our minds by ourselves and our parents.

But how do we begin to de-condition the mind (throw out the junk and keep the best)?

Google AdSenseGuest Advertisement

It is not always easy to tell the difference because the truths of human motivation, and the truths of physical reality. For example, say we want people to like us, but the truth will alienate you from your favorite group. Each person may do their own addition and determine the truth of human nature; wanting to intimately belong, many count for more or less than the objective truth; disfunction.

Say there is political candidate who says he will change the status quo. This status quo allows you to benefit, socially and materially, by its disfunction and inefficiency. One truth is all humans want to feel good and secure. But another truth is efficiency is better. Which of the two truths do you throw out, since they are mutually exclusive? One cannot come to a state of peace as long as these compete. There may be the need for a third truth that may or may not yet exist which can bridge the two.

originIn a democracy you deserve the leaders you elect.Valued Senior Member

But how do we begin to de-condition the mind (throw out the junk and keep the best)?

[...]

Thoughts?

Click to expand...

Our brains are made to forget things. This is the way how we get rid of junk knowledge. Unused knowledge will be removed after a while.

If we actually use the junk knowledge, it's not really junk, and therefore alright to be kept - it has some use.

More helpful than removing junk knowledge is to remove traumatic memories. They are usually burned so intensely into our brains that they won't be forgotten easily nor quickly, even if the victim very much wants that. Usualy these memories are not helpful, and in this case a de-conditioning is really needed (and quite hard to achieve).

Unused knowledge is not necessarily knowledge that one should not have.

I'm not sure that everyone agrees on what knowledge is valuable and what isn't.

Click to expand...

It seems ourt brains only consider the usage, and the importance of the memory when it was stored. Things that came with a lot of emotions and have a lot of links to other memories tend to stay longer. But memories that aren't used begin to fade, become harder to remember, and eventually become lost.

That's what nature gave us. I don't thing we had a word in that, so it's irrelevant if we agree to the scheme or not

We've spent our entire existence in this western culture and most other first world cultures engraving the "natural" truths of society (which itself in the western culture is so self-alienating and superficial, not that depth is synonymous with meaning unless either is important to the expansion of one's mind) into our minds by ourselves and our parents.

Click to expand...

Feeling alienated. eh? I don't share that alienation from my own culture. I like it. I don't think that 'western' or 'first world' cultures are superficial. Science isn't superficial, and it's a product of western intellectual culture.

But how do we begin to de-condition the mind (throw out the junk and keep the best)?

Click to expand...

I'd say by thinking philosophically. (That's how I personally approach it.) But thinking philosophically is most emphatically NOT the same thing as embracing every seemingly 'cosmic' idea that one encounters.

The presence of unimportant knowledge is of no benefit. I call it "junk knowledge".

The pursuit of important knowledge is wisdom.

We've spent our entire existence in this western culture and most other first world cultures engraving the "natural" truths of society (which itself in the western culture is so self-alienating and superficial, not that depth is synonymous with meaning unless either is important to the expansion of one's mind) into our minds by ourselves and our parents.

But how do we begin to de-condition the mind (throw out the junk and keep the best)?

The presence of unimportant knowledge is of no benefit. I call it "junk knowledge".

The pursuit of important knowledge is wisdom.

We've spent our entire existence in this western culture and most other first world cultures engraving the "natural" truths of society (which itself in the western culture is so self-alienating and superficial, not that depth is synonymous with meaning unless either is important to the expansion of one's mind) into our minds by ourselves and our parents.

But how do we begin to de-condition the mind (throw out the junk and keep the best)?

The presence of unimportant knowledge is of no benefit. I call it "junk knowledge".

The pursuit of important knowledge is wisdom.

Click to expand...

How do you know beforehand what knowledge is "important" and which is not? There's a reason why they tell you to put everything on your resume, not just what seems pertinent to the job you're applying for. I've gotten jobs on the basis of knowledge and experience that I had no idea would be useful to the prospective employer. It's a good thing I didn't junk that knowledge.